New Bedford boys basketball team taken down by Brookline

Hitting the Beardsworth-Gonsalves gymnasium with 32 minutes of destruction, Hurricane Brookline leveled New Bedford, blowing the Whalers out of the Div. 1 South tournament.

Buddy Thomas

NEW BEDFORD — So much for the hurricane season being over!

Hitting the Beardsworth-Gonsalves gymnasium with 32 minutes of destruction, Hurricane Brookline leveled New Bedford, blowing the Whalers out of the Div. 1 South boys basketball tournament.

A 10-0 run highlighted the first eight minutes of destruction as the Warriors built a 23-4 lead after one quarter and cruised the rest of the way to the 73-44 first-round rout that knocked the Whalers out of the tournament and ended their season.

"They beat us in every aspect of the game. It's as simple as that," said New Bedford coach Tom Tarpey, whose team put the wraps on a 15-6 season.

Anthony Jennings came off the bench to score a team-high 22 points and was one of three Brookline players in double figures. The 6-4 junior forward matched the entire New Bedford offense with 14 points as the Warriors took whatever suspense remained in the outcome by taking a 43-14 lead into the halftime break.

Lake Berry and Elijah Rogers joined Jennings in double figures for the winners with 11 and 10 points, and were among 11 different Warriors who shot their way into the scoring column. Tyree Weston led New Bedford with a game-high 23 points, but was the only Whaler in twin digits. Rylin Collazo was next with nine points and Josh Pontes chipped in with seven.

New Bedford never led in the game, falling behind 5-0 in the opening minute and failed to convert back-to-back baskets until a Weston 2-pointer and goaltending call turned a 27-4 deficit into a 27-8 score with 5:14 left in the half.

"We couldn't get into our trapping defense because we couldn't score and they were just too big and too strong under the basket and dominated the rebounding," Tarpey said.

New Bedford picked up its defensive intensity in the second half and limited the Warriors to 30 points. But the Whalers' offense could never shift into gear and managed just 30 points of their own in the final two quarters.

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING: Brookline converted 28 of 53 shots for a sizzling 52 percent while New Bedford had what arguably was its poorest shooting night of the season, hitting just 15 of 54 shots for 27 percent. From the foul line, the Warriors were 13 of 21; New Bedford 8 of 13. Each team turned the ball over 16 times.

NEXT STEP: With the win, Brookline, which entered the tournament with a 12-8 record and 12th seed, advances to the quarterfinals against the winner of the Brockton-Marshfield game while Tarpey and the Whalers begin planning for next season. "If you had told me we'd finish 15-5 at the beginning of the season, I would have had my doubts," Tarpey said. "We went into the season with a lot of youth and inexperience but this team came together quickly and got better as the season went on. We had five seniors on the roster and all five gave their all. I couldn't have asked anything more from them and they were a pleasure to coach. It was a lot of fun watching the younger guys develop and we have a very nice nucleus to build around going into next season."

NOTES: The 44 points were the second lowest total of the season for New Bedford. The lowest came in a 93-39 loss at Lowell back in December. ... With four more 3-pointers, Weston finished his sophomore season with a team-high 55. He had at least one 3-pointer in his last 12 games. Collazo had two 3-pointers, his 27th and 28th of the season and his last two as a high school player. ... Senior guard Malique Wheatley injured his knee late in the third quarter and didn't return.